ANZACS, anarchists and aversion therapists

Because he doesn't believe the present can be
understood without acknowledging the past, Dr James Bennett is casting a
critical eye over a broad slice of twentieth century Australia and New Zealand.

Beginning his postgraduate journey with a thesis that had a major focus on transnational labour movements of the early 20th century, James' research has since broadened into several interconnected strands with the relationship between Australia and New Zealand as their central organising principle.

Every thread fascinating in its own right, the sometimes surprising linkage between his focal points, and their continuing impact, imbues each with added significance.

To date, James has turned his attention to representing history in film, incidents of resistance in the history of the city of Newcastle, the First World War, the medicalisation and demedicalisation of homosexuality, the ANZAC legend, and the critical pedagogy of tertiary level history.

A Senior Lecturer in History, James' own recent past has seen him fulfill the duties of Head of the History discipline in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, and Student Academic Conduct Officer for that School.

RADICAL NEWCASTLE

James' interest in early labour movements recently translated to his involvement in a project culminating with the launch of the book Radical Newcastle by the Vice-Chancellor at the Newcastle Writers' Festival in early 2015.

Co-edited by James in collaboration with the UON's Dr Nancy Cushing and Federation University's Professor Erik Eklund, the book contains short essays by more than 30 contributors.

Opening with accounts from the Newcastle penal settlement of 1804, the book surveys episodes of dissent, protest, and fighting back through to the recent battles of the Newcastle Inner City Residents Alliance against perceived corruption and overdevelopment.

James is also working toward a book comprehensively reviewing all English language films and documentaries depicting the First World War's Gallipoli campaign.

An extensive array of source material from Australian, New Zealand, and UK filmmakers will feature.

Due to his expertise in this area, James has also been asked to submit a chapter detailing the representation of ANZAC and the Gallipoli campaign in the context of Australian cinema and transnational threads for an upcoming Wiley-Blackwell screen companion.

UNPACKING ANZAC

James suggests that depictions of Australia's involvement in the First World War are often idealised, with the typical narrative nationalistic and narrow. Being confronted with differing perspectives to those perpetuated by the media and legend is challenging for some Australians.

"The most problematic content in the first year survey course on Australian history is the ANZAC component," James says.

"Partly because it is all around us like wallpaper and the tendency of students can be to regurgitate aspects of the Australian legend. It can be difficult to stand back and think about it critically."

James and colleagues are currently exploring critical pedagogical strategies, such as the use of documentary film and group discussion, to assist these students in rethinking their stance.

"We are looking at that research-teaching nexus and the anxieties in the classroom for the teachers, and to some extent for students, and trying to take a more critical approach," James discloses.

These targeted strategies, and data relating to the baseline attitudes of students, will be presented by James and his colleague Dr Margot Ford at the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society (ANZHES) Conference 2015.

On top of that, James and Margot were recently awarded a competitive Faculty grant to organise a workshop in Newcastle in 2016 that will form and cement an international network on education and modern conflict in international comparative perspective.

The network will work towards submission of a large external grant application in 2017.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON AUSTRALIA'S FIRST WORLD WAR

Early in 2015, James co-convened the international conference, 'The First World War: Local, Global and Imperial Perspectives'.

The conference explored the social and cultural impacts of the First World War through a critical and multidisciplinary lens.

"In some profound ways, the legacies of the First World War continue with us today," James asserts.

James and fellow UON historian, Dr Kate Ariotti, are working to assemble a collection of works based on conference papers and resultant explorations.

Local and international academics will contribute work around issues such as women and war, Australian prisoners of war, the home front and remembrance.

"There will also be a chapter on the labour movement in the First World War, so the kind of industrial troubles that were happening on the home front but were informed by international events."

"This conference and the book are actually about globalising Australia's involvement in the First World War," James explains.

"Most of the writing concerning that war has been quite inward looking and nationalistic in focus, but we have tried to create a good blend of local and international."

HEAVENLY CREATURES

On a research trip to New Zealand in the 1990s, a now deceased aunt of James' divulged that his medico grandfather had been involved in New Zealand's most famous trial, that of matricide killer Pauline Parker and her accomplice Juliet Hulme.

This family connection, together with a feature film about the case by New Zealand director Peter Jackson, combined to firmly capture James' interest.

"Jackson is an exceedingly interesting film maker working at a highly interesting time in the development of New Zealand film, and to have an ancestor who's implicated in the story raised all sorts of questions for me," James confides.

Extensive cultural shifts have compelled James to contrast original representations of the case to more recent depictions, with a focus on gendered constructions, social class, and national identity.

The medicalisation of homosexuality in Australia and New Zealand during the second half of the 20th century is another area of interest raised by the Parker-Hulme case. James presented at a UK conference marking the 50thanniversary of the Wolfenden Report, which led to the eventual decriminalisation of homosexuality in England.

CROSSING THE TASMAN

James' thesis explored Maori encounters with, and resistance to, the 'White Australia' Policy. Those stories are being echoed in a strand of research related to current relations between the two nations.

James suggests that the theoretically reciprocal relationship between the two countries, although historically taken for granted, is becoming increasingly one sided.

"There was a major shift in 2001 when people born in New Zealand, but living in Australia, were no longer able to access the services that they were once entitled to," James says.

"Taking out citizenship has become more difficult since 2001 and some New Zealanders have been caught between the cracks."

The deportation of New Zealanders who have served a combined jail sentence in Australia for longer than a year has become what James describes as a 'hot button issue' in his native country.

"The deportees may have no cultural memory of New Zealand, or friends and family there. That isn't taken into account."

James suggests that there is a growing dissatisfaction on the part of the New Zealand public and Opposition benches, with the current New Zealand and Australian governments' perceived lack of action on this fading reciprocity.

"It is an interesting and still developing aspect of Trans-Tasman relations."

"There are questions being asked. If we are mates with an intertwined history, why are people being treated like this?"

Career Summary

Biography

James Bennett is a Senior Lecturer in History, formerly Head of the History discipline in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle (2013-14) and Student Academic Conduct Officer for that School (2011-13). His professional memberships include the International Society for First World War Studies, the Australian Historical Association and Friends of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

His most significant recent achievements include co-editing the rich and diverse collection, Radical Newcastle, on that city's submerged 'radical' past. The book was published by NewSouth Publishing and released to coincide with the Newcastle Writers' Festival in March, 2015 and the University's 50th birthday commemorations. The project has returned him to his early career roots in the field of labour history which led to publication of his first monograph, 'Rats and Revolutionaries': The Labour Movement in Australia and New Zealand 1890-1940 (Otago University Press, 2004) based on part of his PhD thesis.

He co-convened the international conference, 'The First World War: Local, Global and Imperial Perspectives' at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Newcastle from 25 to 27 March, 2015. The purpose of the conference was to provide a rejoinder to the customary hubris of national commemorations, and to stimulate awareness of the conflict’s often submerged local, global and imperial contexts. Among the key themes were marginalised experiences of the war (notably women and Indigenous service personnel), approaches to commemoration, cultural representations of the conflict and dissent.

Recent publications have been focused on the representation of history on film and television, notably the collection published as Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand (I.B. Tauris, 2011), which he co-edited and contributed to. More recently his emphasis has been on documentary representations of the First World War through articles on international documentaries that marked the 90th anniversary of the campaign (Continuum, 28:5, 2014) as well as television documentaries dealing with Aboriginal service and sacrifice (Journal of Australian Studies, 38:4, 2014).

He has had articles published in many national and international journals on Australian history, New Zealand history, transnational history, sexual history and film and history including the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, History Compass, Australian Journal of Politics and History, Social History of Medicine, War and Society and Journal of New Zealand Studies. In 2006 he co-edited a special issue on gender readings in history and film for the Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies.

He was an interviewee for the 2010 American feature length documentary Reflectionsof the Past: An Open Discussion on the Parker-Hulme Case arising from his publications on the seminal 1954 New Zealand murder case and its representations in film and media.

Research Expertise- Historical Studies

Qualifications

PhD, University of Melbourne

Master of Arts (Honours), University of Canterbury - New Zealand

Bachelor of Arts, University of Canterbury - New Zealand

Royal Society of Arts Certificate in TEFL, International House London

Keywords

Australia and the Pacific

Australian history

Documentary film

Gender and sexuality

History, film and representation

The First World War especially film and representation

The Labour movement

War and society

Languages

German (Working)

Fields of Research

Code

Description

Percentage

210399

Historical Studies not elsewhere classified

50

220299

History and Philosophy of Specific Fields not elsewhere classified

5

219999

History and Archaeology not elsewhere classified

45

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title

Organisation / Department

Senior Lecturer

University of NewcastleSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceAustralia

Academic appointment

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

Co-Editor - Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies

University of NewcastleAustralia

1/11/2005 - 1/12/2005

Acting Secretary

NZ Historical Assocation ConferenceNew Zealand

1/08/2004 - 1/02/2007

Lecturer

The University of AucklandDepartment of HistoryNew Zealand

1/08/2004 - 1/02/2007

Lecturer

The University of AucklandComparative HistoryNew Zealand

1/01/2001 - 1/12/2001

Conference Co-convenor - Interdiscipinary Gender Studies

Interdiscipinary Gender Studies ConferenceAustralia

1/01/2001 - 1/12/2001

Conference Co-convenor

Australian Homosexual Histories ConferenceAustralia

1/04/1991 - 1/12/1992

Assistant Lecturer

International Pacific CollegeCentre for English Language and Foundation Studies- English as a Foreign LanguageNew Zealand

Awards

Professional

Teaching Innovation Investment Scheme (UON)Centre for Teaching and Learning, The University of Newcastle

Research Award

Year

Award

2002

Faculty Enhancement Program award (FEP)International Council for Canadian Studies

Teaching Award

Year

Award

2012

Vice Chancellor's Citations on Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for HIST1051: The Australian Experience (joint winner)The University of Newcastle

Invitations

Keynote Speaker

Year

Title / Rationale

2017

Book launch: 'Swimming Against the Tide – a Biography of Freda Brown' by Dr Lisa Milner

2005

Auckland History Teachers’ Association Professional Development ConferenceOrganisation: Auckland History Teachers' Association Description: Invitation to speak at the Auckland History Teachers' Professional Development conference at St. Cuthbert's College in Auckland. The paper was based on my research work around identities, film and representation.

Organiser

Year

Title / Rationale

2011

Invited course co-ordinator and lecturer, History and Film summer course, UNSW, SydneyInvited by A/Prof Anne O'Brien to be course coordinator of a three week intensive summer semester course at UNSW.

Participant

Year

Title / Rationale

2007

Associate Prof Malcolm CampbellOrganisation: University of Auckland
Description:
I was asked to assess and prepare a report on a Masters thesis which had been examined by 1 internal and 1 external examiner. There was a wide discrepancy between the two grades. My compromise grade was adopted.

2007

Associate Prof Malcolm CampbellOrganisation: University of Auckland
Description:
I was asked to assess and prepare a report on a Masters thesis which had been examined by 1 internal and 1 external examiner. There was a wide discrepancy between the two grades. My compromise grade was adopted.

2007

Dr David PomfretOrganisation: Hong Kong University
Description:
Personal invitation based on my published work from the new convenor of the HKU History Department seminar series, which is very international in orientation. Accommodation expenses are paid.

2007

Trans Tasman Labour History ConferenceOrganisation: Auckland University of Technology
Description:
Paper invited by virtue of my published monograph, 'Rats and Revolutionaries'(2004)

2007

Dr Graham WillettOrganisation: Australia Centre, University of Melbourne
Description:
Personal invitation to give a paper at the Wolfenden 50 Conference (50 years since publication of the Wolfenden Report) at King's College in London. This arises from my work on transnationalism and on sexual identities.

2004

Associate Prof Anna GreenOrganisation: University of Waikato
Description:
Shortly after my appointment at the University of Auckland I was invited by the Chairperson of the History Department at the University of Waikato in Hamilton (c. 1.5 hours south of Auckland0 to run an upper level course in social history.

Thesis Examinations

Year

Level

Discipline

Thesis

2013

PHD

Humanities

Representations of Aboriginies in Australian Documentary Film, 1901-2009

2008

PHD

Humanities

The Communist Party of Australia and Proletariat Internationalism

Manuscript Reviews

Year

Title

Publication Type

Publisher

Description

2016

In Defence of Country: Life Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Servicemen and Women

Authored Book - Research (HERDC)

ANU Press

<span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been protecting country since time immemorial. One way they have continued these traditions in recent times is through service in the Australian military, both overseas and within Australia. In Defence of Country presents a selection of life stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ex-servicemen and women who served in the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force after World War Two. In their own words, participants discuss a range of issues including why they joined up; racial discrimination; the Stolen Generations; leadership; discipline; family; war and peace; education and skills development; community advocacy; and their hopes for the future of Indigenous Australia. Individually and collectively, the life stories in this book highlight the many contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women have made, and continue to make, in defence of country.</span>

Prestigious works

Year Commenced

Year Finished

Prestigious Work

Role

2015

2017

James E. Bennett. 'Interpreting Anzac and Gallipoli through a Transnational Prism: A Century of Anglophone Screen Representations' In Felicity Collins, Susan Bye & Jane Landman eds., A Companion to Australian Cinema. ISBN-10: 1118942574. Wiley Blackwell Publishing

Chapter (8 outputs)

Bennett JE, ''Interpreting Anzac and Gallipoli through a Transnational Prism: A Century of Anglophone Screen Representations'', A Companion to Australian Cinema, Wiley-Blackwell, New Jersey (2018)

2017

Bennett JE, '"Australia's war through the lens of centenary documentary: connecting scholarly and popular histories"', Australians and the First World War: Local-Global Connections and Contexts, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland 221-239 (2017) [B1]

Bennett J, ''Social Security, the "Money Power" and the Great Depression: The International Dimension to Australian and New Zealand Labour in Office'', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 43 312-330 (1997) [C1]

20112 grants / $11,000

Within our growing knowledge economy, students increasingly encounter disciplines such as history, politics, philosophy, and education through the intersection of new media technologies and popular culture, rather than through the once typical encounter with ‘the book’. Recognising that we live at a time when students prefer to engage with visual media rather than written text, Rosenstone (2001) has dubbed the present age ‘post-literate’, an age where everyone can read but no one will. Prensky (2007) describes the current generation transitioning from schools into the workforce and tertiary education as ‘digital natives’, for whom graphics precede written text as one of the defining features of their engagement in learning. This project recognises that significant work using screen media texts in teaching and learning is occurring across the university. Through developing a dialogue across the disciplines, and developing a web-based repository of texts and practices, this project will explore how, for what purpose, and to what effect, visual media (including film, television, still images, vodcasts, animation, social media and imaging technologies) are used by academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences to produce 21st century professionals and enhance the student experience. It will, through surveys and focus group interviews, develop an understanding of the variety of texts, assessment strategies and pedagogical approaches used by academics. The project will establish exemplars of innovative pedagogical practice in order to explore curriculum renewal opportunities.

Research Projects

Surveilling Minds and Bodies: Sexualities, Medicine and the Law in Australasian Contexts 2018 -

The project endeavours to provide a historical context (1950-present) for the current Australasian events surrounding, and responding to, the surveillance of sexualities, particularly gay and lesbian sexualities. The recent shifts in power dynamics pertaining to sexualities, the body, medicalization, and the law – represented most profoundly by the marriage equality debate – demonstrates the need for a series of historical enquiries into these key social issues.

Global Newcastle 2016 -

Through our work, the Global Newcastle Research Network brings a new perspective to histories of Newcastle. The Global Newcastle project challenges limited ideas about possible futures for Newcastle by demonstrating that in the past and present, the city has been integrated in global flows of capital, people and ideas. In collaborating on this project, public and private enterprises in Newcastle not only help to achieve a better future through knowledge of the regional past, but contribute to new understandings of how regions can continue to forge direct transnational connections unmediated by interests based in metropolitan centres.

Research Collaborations

The map is a representation of a researchers co-authorship with collaborators across the globe. The map displays the number of publications against a country, where there is at least one co-author based in that country. Data is sourced from the University of Newcastle research publication management system (NURO) and may not fully represent the authors complete body of work.